Take a look around any airport lounge in the world and you'll immediately see a set of Bose noise-canceling headphones. They're iconic, and it's because they're good. With the new QuietComfort 25, the first refresh in five years, everything gets just a little bit better.

Peace and quiet is valuable in life. Sometimes you just want to zone out or hone in on something important. I remember being amazed when my elementary school science teacher passed around his personal noise-canceling headphones and let us all try them.

If you're interested in noise-canceling headphones you're probably looking for refuge from the roar of jet engines or the murmurs from the water cooler. Good ones should make you deaf to the world around you. Like earplugs only better—because you're listening to your favorite music in a completely oblivious trance.

Toting headphones back and forth across the country (or the city) is one of the best ways to expose their design flaws. Can the new AKG K495 NC noise-canceling headphones, with their burly build and audiophile pedigree, stand up that kind of punishment while delivering dulcet tones? Is this finally the ideal…

Monster—a company once known for producing insanely nerdy speaker wire— changed headphones forever (for better or worse) with its fashionable, bass-heavy Beats by Dre line. Now that Monster's cash cow is HTC's cash cow, Monster is clearly on the hunt for new friends.

Sony's MDR-NC300D digital noise canceling earbuds use the same technology found in Sony's top of the line, and very much respected, MDR-NC500D over the ear headphones, and at $300 these earbuds ain't cheap but they might actually be worth it.

JVC rolled out its HA-NC80 noise-canceling headphones, offering two modes of quietude. Wide Mode is geared toward jet travel, while Low Mode is more suitable for trains and buses. They fold flat for easy packing, have a dual plug adapter for airplane entertainment systems and will be available next month for a…